Chinese Six Companies

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The headquarters of the Chinese Six Companies in San Francisco is located on Stockton Street, directly across the Kuomintang headquarters. Due to its traditional association with the KMT, the flag of the Republic of China continues to fly atop the building.
The headquarters of the Chinese Six Companies in San Francisco is located on Stockton Street, directly across the Kuomintang headquarters. Due to its traditional association with the KMT, the flag of the Republic of China continues to fly atop the building.

The Chinese Six Companies or Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (Chinese:中華公所) or Chong Wa Benevolent Association (Chinese:中華會館) is a historical Chinese Association established in various parts of the United States with large populations of Chinese.

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[edit] San Francisco

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The original Chinese Six Companies in San Francisco were already operating as separate entities with some degree of mutual coordination[1] before the first Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association was formally established in 1882.[2] At the time, San Francisco had the U.S.'s largest Chinese population.[3]

The Six Companies consisted of the six most important Chinese district associations of California at that time: the Sam Yup Company, Yung Wo Company, Kong Chow Company, Ning Yung Company, Hop Wo Company, and Yan Wo Company.[4] Among their early efforts, they attempted to deter prostitution in the Chinese community, to encourage Chinese immigrants to lead moral lives, and to discourage what they described as excessive continuing Chinese immigration creating hostility toward Chinese already in America.[5] In 1875, they endorsed the position that continued Chinese immigration was resulting in a general lowering of wages, both for whites and for Chinese already in America.[6]

[edit] New York City

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Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (October 2007)

In New York City, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association was established in 1883.[7]

The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) is the oldest community organization in Chinatown. The parent organization of the Chinese Community Center, the CCBA was founded in 1883 and has represented and served the needs of Chinese Americans in New York City ever since. Historically it has performed a quasi-governmental role in the Chinese community. Throughout its history, business ownership has been a goal of many residents of Chinatown, and has been supported both financially, and through training, by the CCBA. Today there are local CCBA agencies in 26 cities with substantial Chinese populations across North America.

Currently, the CCBA represents the Chinese Americans living in the Greater New York Metro area. Internally, the CCBA is the hinge that keeps the Chinese American community intact and vigorous. Specifically, the CCBA:

Early officers of the Six Companies in traditional dress, with riding jackets over changshan.
Early officers of the Six Companies in traditional dress, with riding jackets over changshan.
  • Provides social services
  • Provides personal and commercial conflict resolution and mediations
  • Promotes Chinese traditions and cultural heritage
  • Serves as a bridge between Chinese American immigrants and the main stream groups
  • Promotes Chinese American interests
  • Engages in charitable activities
  • Sponsors educational and recreational activities
  • Sponsors and promotes youth services
  • Provides and advocates for small businesses

In New York City, the CCBA is an umbrella organization of 60 member organizations representing a cross-section of New York’s Chinese community. They include professional and trade organizations such as the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Chinese American Restaurant Association; civic organizations such as the American Legion, Lt. Lam Lau Post; religious, cultural and women’s organizations; fellow-provincial organization such as the Hoy Sun Ning Yung Association and the Lin Sing Association; and family organizations such as the Lee, Eng, and Chan Family Association.

CCBA spearheaded the move to form the Chinese Voters Federation in May 2004 to encourage qualified Chinese American citizens to register and vote in the 2004 Presidential election, a community-wide effort that produced an increase of 24.2% in the number of Chinese American voters in Chinatown. It strongly supported the formation of the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, the Asian Job Service Employer Committee and the Greater New York Chinese Community Dollars for Scholars program, all of which benefit the Chinese communities in many important ways.

Immediately following the earthquake and tsunami disasters in south Asia, CCBA led an emergency community-wide campaign to raise much-needed funds for the victims, a drive that raised more than $500,000 for the American Red Cross Emergency Response Fund. In September 2005, right after the Hurricane Katrina disaster, CCBA and Sing Tao Daily joined together and raised $170,000 for the victims.

Recently, CCBA solidified the relations with different City departments and agencies to solve many on-going problems in Chinatown, including insufficient parking spaces, illegal enforcement of parking regulations, confusing sanitation enforcement regulations, etc. Working closely with the NYPD, the NYPD community affairs bureau now hosts monthly seminars on different safety topics at the CCBA. Its efforts have resulted in the establishment of a direct channel to the government without language barriers.

The CCBA also works with many main stream organizations to provide services to the Chinese American community, such as the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and the American Cancer Society. In December 2006, CCBA and the American Red Cross of Greater New York signed a Memorandum of Understanding to coordinate programs in Chinatown that will help prepare and train the Chinese community for any kind of emergency.

The CCBA fulfills its functions by working closely with local businesses and residents as well as by maintaining close contact with Chinese American organizations located throughout North America and integration into the mainstream of American society.

[edit] Seattle

Chong Wa Benevolent Association, Seattle
Chong Wa Benevolent Association, Seattle

In Seattle, Washington, the Chong Wa Association was established around 1915.[8]

[edit] Branches

The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association has several branches in the United States and Canada including in: [9]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "A Memorial…", p. 18–23 in [Yung et. al. 2006], is an example of a document jointly issued by the Six Companies as early as 1876.
  2. ^ Delehanty
  3. ^ "A Memorial…" claims 30,000 out of 60,000 in California and 150,000 nationwide in 1876; the 1860 U.S. Census shows 63,199 nationwide; the 1870 U.S. Census shows 105,465 nationwide.
  4. ^ [Yung et. al. 2006] p. 23.
  5. ^ [Yung et. al. 2006] p. 20 et. seq.
  6. ^ [Yung et. al. 2006] p. 25.
  7. ^ CCBA (New York) official site.
  8. ^ Chong Wa Association (Seattle) on vrseattle.com
  9. ^ The C.C.B.A. in North America

[edit] References

[edit] External links


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